Taiwan Taipei Travel Itinerary for Filipino Tourists: Getting Around

Day 1: Touchdown at Taipei Taoyuan International Airport

Caught my 11 PM flight to Taiwan with just a few minutes to spare. Whew! I thought I could breeze my way through the departure gate since I already did web check in a few days before and I didn't have any baggage to drop off. But as it turned out, this was one of those times where you still have to drop by the check in counters first and have your documents checked and all. Walked away pretty happy though, 'coz I was able to able to change my seat all the way from 20E to 8F. Less waiting time during deplaning, yay!

The travel time from Manila to Taiwan is pretty short -- just a little over 1.5 hours. Lucky for us Filipinos, Cebu Pacific and AirAsia offers promo fares going here all the time! Would you believe I got mine for only 1500 php ...and that's already roundtrip!

I couldn't sleep so I just made some final tweaks to our travel itinerary. We arrived at 1 am. At this hour, public transportation to the city center is pretty limited. Luckily, there is one 24-hour bus which goes all the way to Taipei Main Station. We took that one and from there, just rode a taxi to our hotel. Taipei is pretty safe even late at night, so no need to worry if you got a red-eye flight

TaoYuan International Airport

TaoYuan International Airport

Going to the Bus Waiting Area

How to get to Taipei Main Station:

Taxi: 

Taxis are available at Taoyuan International Airport 24 hours. A one-way taxi fare will cost NT$1000–$1200 (1500 - 1800 php) from the airport. I suggest writing down or taking a screenshot of your hotel address in Chinese as a lot of the drivers don't speak English.

Buses:

Available buses from the airport:

- 1819 to Taipei Main Station

- 1840 and 1841 to Songshan Airport

- 1843 to Nangang Exhibition Center

- 1960 East Bus

- 1961 West Bus

- 5201 and 5202 bus

Note: The only 24-hour bus is 1819.  It costs NT$125 (187.5 php) and normally takes about 50-60 minutes to get to Taipei Main Station. It took us only around 45 minutes since it was already past midnight and there were hardly any traffic.

Taipei Main Station

I suggest staying somewhere near here for easier access to the buses and trains going out and about the city. Taipei has a pretty quick and efficient transportation system. Take a look at this MTR map below!

Taipei Metro Route Map

There's an app for this in Google Play Store called Taipei Metro Route Map. I suggest downloading it before your travel as it makes getting around so much easier! They also have this reloadable EasyCard (kinda like our Beep card) which is very convenient to use. You just tap it onto the ticketing system found inside the MRT stations, and on buses. No need to fumble around with changes. I'm sure I'm not the only one here who gets confused and takes such a long time figuring out which coins are which when using foreign currencies! You can also use this card to purchase items in convenience stores. Just look for the EasyCard logo inside participating stores.

EasyCard

They also have this other card they call the TaipeiPass, geared specifically more for tourists. They offer it in 1-day, 2-day, 3-day, and 5-day variations. The difference between this and the EasyCard is that the TaipeiPass gives you unlimited rides on the Taipei Metro and buses. Unless you're planning on moving around A LOT in one day, I suggest just getting the EasyCard as it comes out cheaper. My friend and I did an experiment; she got the TaipeiPass and I got the EasyCard. At the end of the trip, she spent around NT$200 more than me for transportation.

Prices of Taipei Pass: $180 for one day, $310 for 2 days, $440 for 3 days, $700 for five days.

Where to Stay?

We decided to stay at this new capsule hotel called HeyBear Capsule Hotel since we thought it was a pretty cool concept and we've never stayed in one before. We were perfectly happy with our choice. The hotel was right across an MRT station, and just 5 stops away from the Main Station. For those arriving at an untimely hour (AirAsia I'm looking at you!), no worries as they have a 24-hour reception and checking in is quite fast.

The capsules were comfortable, had its own safe, TV, mirror and backlight inside. It even locks both from the inside and outside! You're given a personal keycard to get inside your capsule (and the shared bathroom). I would definitely stay here again the next time I visit Taipei :)

Our "rooms"

...Oh gosh, it's 3 am! Crawling inside my space capsule now to try and get a few hours of sleep before Day 2. Good night everyone, stay tuned for more -- I'll be posting my 5-day travel itinerary and expenses soon! In the meantime, check out my money saving travel tips for Taiwan here. Feel free to comment and ask me any questions!


Read about Day 2 in Beitou, Elephant Mountain and Shilin Night Market on my next post!